DEFENSE: Voyage of Norton Sound

As the broad-beamed U.S. Navy missile-test
ship Norton Sound pulled away from her dock at Port Hueneme, Calif,
shortly after dusk one day last August, a dockhand bellowed to Captain
Arthur Gralla, the skipper: "What time tomorrow ya coming back,
captain?" Yelled Gralla in reply: "I'll let you know." To all
appearances, Norton Sound was off on another of her one-day, routine,
rocket-testing trips to the Navy's offshore test range. But Gralla
knew, even before opening the sealed orders in his cabin, that Norton
Sound would not be docking at Port Hueneme (pronounced Wye-nee-mee) the
next day, or for...